What do I do from here?

[Anonymous]

I'm new to credit. 19 year old, college student. I started with a BoA secured card with a $300 CL in July 2013, which graduated to a BoA Platinum Plus Visa in January 2014 but no CLI. Somewhere along the way, I applied for a couple other credit cards but was denied immediately. In May of 2014, my husband and I bought an SUV, but due to me having a short credit history and him having VERY BAD credit, we both got 11 hard inquaries on our credit reports before finally getting approved. After getting the SUV at 7% interest, and seeing that my credit score was now nearing 700, I applied for an Amazon store card and was instantly approved for $700, and the Amazon Visa and was instantly approved for $1,000. Then, my husband was pre-approved for a Capital One Platinum Mastercard, and added me as an authorized user. So in total, my Experian credit report has 7 hard inquaries, Equifax has 6 hard inquaries, and Transunion has 17 hard inquaries. I have never missed a payment, have low utilzation around 15-20%, and always pay my balance in full each month. CreditKarma is reporting my credit score as 659 currently. How can I improve my credit score? We are looking to buy a house in the near future.

[BluePoodle]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm new to credit. 19 year old, college student. I started with a BoA secured card with a $300 CL in July 2013, which graduated to a BoA Platinum Plus Visa in January 2014 but no CLI. Somewhere along the way, I applied for a couple other credit cards but was denied immediately. In May of 2014, my husband and I bought an SUV, but due to me having a short credit history and him having VERY BAD credit, we both got 11 hard inquaries on our credit reports before finally getting approved. After getting the SUV at 7% interest, and seeing that my credit score was now nearing 700, I applied for an Amazon store card and was instantly approved for $700, and the Amazon Visa and was instantly approved for $1,000. Then, my husband was pre-approved for a Capital One Platinum Mastercard, and added me as an authorized user. So in total, my Experian credit report has 7 hard inquaries, Equifax has 6 hard inquaries, and Transunion has 17 hard inquaries. I have never missed a payment, have low utilzation around 15-20%, and always pay my balance in full each month. CreditKarma is reporting my credit score as 659 currently. How can I improve my credit score? We are looking to buy a house in the near future.

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Welcome to the forums. If you plan to apply for a house you do NOT want to apply for any more credit right now. You don't need any more hard pulls on your CR's. I would pay on time. Let your HP's age at least a year before you consider your home purchase. Get your util on your CC's down below 10% or preferably less than 5%. You need to save up cash for a downpayment too. And pay extra on your vehicles if you need to lower your DTI ratio. That would be my suggestions. I am sure others will have more thoughts. Oh, and address any baddies while you are waiting for those HP's to age.

[Anonymous]

What are "baddies"? I don't believe that I have any.

[codehavoc]

On top of what BluePoodle said. In the next 3-6 month try to get a credit limit increase on all your cards with a soft pull (No HardPull) or if the ask to pull your credit report, tell them NO. Seem like your credit limits are a bit low so increasing them later down the line will be a plus on your credit score. So make on time payments and when the time come for you to so a Credit limit increase go for it. Remember no more hard pulls on your credit report.

[Anonymous]

Got it! No more hard pulls or applying for credit cards. Haha. I was told that the Capital One card my husband put me on as an authorized user ($300 CL) will get an auto CLI in 6 months. I heard that BoA won't do CLI on graduated secured cards, is that true?

[BluePoodle]

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@Anonymous wrote:

What are "baddies"? I don't believe that I have any.

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Baddies are any kind of derogatory marks on your credit reports. You mentioned that your husband's credit was "Very bad"

[Anonymous]

How would we start repairing his credit? He has like 4 or 5 defaulted credit cards, and a mountain of student loans that are currently being paid on time.

[BluePoodle]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Got it! No more hard pulls or applying for credit cards. Haha. I was told that the Capital One card my husband put me on as an authorized user ($300 CL) will get an auto CLI in 6 months. I heard that BoA won't do CLI on graduated secured cards, is that true?

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Cap1 might give auto CLI's but yes, you can request a cli at 6 months and every 6 months after the last increase.  I don't have experience with BoA so I can't say.

[BluePoodle]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How would we start repairing his credit? He has like 4 or 5 defaulted credit cards, and a mountain of student loans that are currently being paid on time.

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How old are the defaulte CCs? Have they been paid or does he still owe? I do know lenders will want these paid before they consider a mortage loan. But you must address them in the best way for your credit file. Search these forums for historical posts on similar topics and post new questions addressing each issue in it's propert topic forum. There are people here who have dealt with these same issues and they can help you.

[MT936]

Start by not applying for any more credit cards for at least 6 months.I would wait for over a year. Let your accounts age, that will improve your average age of credit and in turn your credit score will increase. Your hard inquiries should drop after 2 years and you have a ton of hard inquiries which are a huge negative impact on your credit score. Let those drop and don't cause any more by applying for more cards.